Samuel
Samuel lived over a thousand years before Jesus was born. His mum, Hannah, did not think she would be able to have children and so it was a great answer to her prayers when Samuel arrived! She was so thankful to God that she wanted Samuel to have the task of serving in the Temple. It was here that God called him to be a leader of his people. He wasn’t very old when he heard God speak to him for the first time and God asked him to do something that was very difficult – tell the priest Eli that something terrible was going to happen to Eli and his family. 1 Samuel 3:15 says, “Samuel stayed in bed until morning, then got up and opened the doors of the Tabernacle as usual. He was afraid to tell Eli what the Lord had said to him.” (New International Version)
Samuel was the last leader in the Bible to be called a ‘judge’. This role involved leading the army, making sure the law was followed, running the country and leading the worship of God. Not a small job! And yet he was a faithful, successful leader.
Later in Samuel’s life people decided that they would rather have a king instead so they could be like the countries around them and this made Samuel sad. He did give them a king, their first king, a man named Saul. Saul started out pretty well, but after a while things went downhill. Saul forgot to follow God closely and ended up feeling depressed and defeated.
Samuel was determined that the second king of Israel would be different. At first he thought he should choose a strong, tall leader... until God led him to a young shepherd boy called David (who became King David). Even Samuel needed to be reminded that God was looking for a person who was strong on the ‘inside’, not strong on the ‘outside’. When God wanted a leader, he was looking for a person to have a strong ‘heart’ not a strong body!
To find out more, read...1 Samuel chapter 9; 10:1-16
1 Samuel 1:1-28; 3:1-19
and watch Friends and Heroes...
Series 2 Episode 21, “Hostages”
